Should xUbuntu change its name?

[Jucato]

If you came into this thread thinking that I'm asking whether Xubuntu, the Ubuntu-Xfce project, should change it's name, then you'll probably understand my concern.

I'm talking about xUbuntu, not Xubuntu (Ubuntu+Xfce). Confused? Read this: http://www.xbox-linux.org/wiki/XUbuntu

It's basically Ubuntu tweaked to run on PC/Xbox. There's a sort of disclaimer at the bottom that says that it has no relationship between them and Xubuntu/Ubuntu/Canonical, which is actually strange since it's an Ubuntu-based project (maybe he should have written "no direct relationship").

Be that as it may, I think that the name they gave for this project will be potentially confusing once they both get "released" to the public.
1. They both have exactly the same spelling.
2. They both run Xfce (so the x in xUbuntu can both mean Xbox and Xfce)
3. They're both designed to be lightweight OS'es

I'm not sure what the authors/devs intention in naming their project as such, given that they do know that there is an existing "official" Xubuntu project. But maybe he could have more appropriately named the project X-Ubuntu, reinforcing the Xbox part.

Don't get me wrong. I don't dislike this project. I think it's actually pretty neat that they will be able to run Ubuntu on X-box (MS won't like it for sure). It's just that ordinary people not really familiar with either Xubuntu or xUbuntu might get confused. At least there's no confusion for now, since Xubuntu has not yet been "officially" released.

What do you think? I wonder if someone in the future will name their projects kUbuntu (killer Ubuntu) or uBuntu (unified Ubuntu) or maybe edUbuntu (enterprise development Ubuntu) :D

[drogoh]

I'm for XBoxtu; no chance for confusion there.

[briancurtin]

im for letting them do whatever they want with their projects

[jrib]

They should definitely consider that this will cause a lot of confusion. Some people wanting xubuntu are going to end up at the xbox-ubuntu site and some people interested in xbox-ubuntu are going to end up with xubuntu. I'm sure they have heard a lot of alternatives. Imo, it seems like common-sense that they should try to help avoid confusion

[Kvark]

They should be forced to change. A trademark represents the identity and reputation of a project. By using exactly the same trademark as Xubuntu they are creating confusion over Xubuntu's identity and missunderstandings that will have a negative impact on Xubuntu's reputation.

[Jucato]

That's exactly the problem. I'm presuming that it was not their intention to sort of "ride on" the wave if ever Xubuntu comes out. I mean, a possible scenario that could happen is that when people here about xUbuntu, they'll immediately think that it's Canonical's Xubuntu. Even though they have an explicit note in their wiki (and acknowledgements, too), it still can't be helped and people who might get disappointed with xUbuntu, might vent out their anger on Ubuntu/Canonical.

I mean, how many people have already misspelled Ubuntu? (Ubundu, Ubantu, Ubandu, etc) I can only guess how many people are going to mistake xUbuntu for Xubuntu (not to mention that due to technical reasons, their wiki page must be spelled XUbuntu).

I was looking for an e-mail address in the wiki, but it seems you have to be a member of the mailing-list to do that. I wanted to bring this issue to their attention, but don't want to come out too strong, so I wanted to ask your opinion about it.

Btw, I wonder if the Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and Edubuntu names are copyrighted or trademarked?

[asimon]

I would just call it 'Ubuntu for XBox'. Yeah, I am very pragmatic naming things. ;-) But X-Box is a protected name, thus that name is problably not possible.
Maybe something like UbuntuBox, I really don't care what they name their project, could be 'Fred' too.

But for those two projects to have nearly the same names it just bad and confusing. But these projects should be able to handle this between themselves. If not there is nothing we can do apart from writing them some mails. Canonical has probably registered Ubuntu as a trade mark, is this right? Then they could do something by the force of law, if they care enough. I guess a friendly letter from the Ubuntu Foundation would work too.

If you really care just mail their project leads, no need to register on some mailing lists, and look what they respond.

[Buffalo Soldier]

just throwing out ideas: uBoXtu, BOXuntu, UbunTOX...

[fuscia]

how about just plain, old 'Bob'?

(edit: it's my dad's name.)

[Jucato]

how about just plain, old 'Bob'?

(edit: it's my dad's name.)
8-[

Hmm... is there anyone in the forums that is connected to Canonical or the Ubuntu dev team? I'd like to give them this info first before I personally e-mail someone from xUbuntu.

[htinn]

just throwing out ideas: uBoXtu, BOXuntu, UbunTOX...

I like uBoXtu. UbunTOX sounds like a disease.

[Kvark]

8-[

Hmm... is there anyone in the forums that is connected to Canonical or the Ubuntu dev team? I'd like to give them this info first before I personally e-mail someone from xUbuntu.
The trademark policy (http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/TrademarkPolicy) on www.ubuntu.com says that trademark questions should be sent to trademarks@ubuntu.com

[Brunellus]

I like uBoXtu. UbunTOX sounds like a disease.
uBOXtu sounds like it should be using a *box windowmanager (flux, open, or black)

[Visualise]

Guys, why would they care about a trademark? They're writing this software for illegally chipped xbox's, which infringes on microsoft's copyrighted code ... if they don't respect microsoft, why would they respect Canonical/whatever.

[Bragador]

Guys, why would they care about a trademark? They're writing this software for illegally chipped xbox's, which infringes on microsoft's copyrighted code ... if they don't respect microsoft, why would they respect Canonical/whatever.

Because Linux, especially Ubuntu is part of their endogroup while Microsoft is part of an exogroup. So they might hate microsoft while respecting other members of their group even if these other members don'T share all of their opinions.

[Erik Trybom]

I think all the different Ubuntu flavours, except Ubuntu itself, should change their names.

Ubuntu is a word that means something. It was chosen for a reason, and it's a good name. Together with the slogan, "Linux for human beings", it clearly expresses the feeling of warmth and humanity that we want it to. Kubuntu, on the other hand, is just a play of words (and a lousy one at that). I know the KDE people love to put K:s into every little application name they can, but it just isn't funny. And now they've set a precedent for the other flavours so we've seen the horrible names xUbuntu, Ebuntu and so on.

Ubuntu is a trademark that should be carefully handled. You don't do that by allowing different versions to distort the name. I think the name Ubuntu should be used exclusively with the flavour name separate, such as "Ubuntu KDE Edition", "Ubuntu XFCE", "X-box Ubuntu" and so on. This is really a marketing mistake on Canonical's part and I hope it will be possible to correct it at some point in the future.

[dolby]

removing the ubuntu part would be better. its the ugliest sounding word ive ever heard, whatever it means..